Lack of teachers hurts, students contend
About 50 students walked out of Springdale Junior-Senior High School on Wednesday afternoon to protest what they say is a lack of teachers in the Allegheny Valley School District and to bring awareness to how it affects their education.
The group gathered in front of the school, which houses 400 students in seventh through 12th grades, about 1:40 p.m., holding signs reading “Justice for our teachers,” “Our future is in your hands” and “I wake up at 6:30 to sit in an empty classroom.” A Springdale police officer monitored the walkout from Marion Avenue.
“What’s happening in the school district right now, it’s just unbelievable to me,” said Madison Shock, a high school junior. “I’ve been with this district since day one. I enjoy going to school, I’m a student who gets As and Bs. It’s upsetting to see … signs on doors of certain teachers because we don’t have the staff to give us the education we need.”
Several students who participated in the walkout, which
started about an hour before the end of the school day, said signs are often posted on teachers’ doors directing students to another classroom if a teacher is out and a substitute is unavailable. They also said students sit supervised in the auditorium for a period if there are not enough teachers to cover classes.
“It’s a growing problem in the district and I know that there are job shortages everywhere, but in a school if you don’t have enough teachers to teach the classes then you shouldn’t be an open school,” said senior Kaitlyn Claus, who organized the walkout. “You should close down your school … because it’s not fair to us.”
The walkout comes as schools across the nation grapple with teacher shortages – an issue that was amplified by the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to a report compiled by researchers at Kansas State University and the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, there are more than 36,500 teacher vacancies across the country. Of those, more than 340 were reported in Pennsylvania.
Ten years ago, Pennsylvania issued about 15,000 new in-state teacher certifications. That number has plummeted to just more than 5,000 for the 2020-21 school year, according to the most recent numbers from the Pennsylvania Department of Education.
Districts also struggle to find substitute teachers, which is considered to be the largest on-demand labor sector in the U.S. with almost 600,000 substitutes covering more than 30 million teacher absences in K-12 schools each year, researchers at Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University found.
Prior to the pandemic, one in every five substitute requests in the U.S. went unfilled. Now, 77% of school districts report challenges in staffing substitutes, the report says.
Springdale students want to “make everybody aware that we are sick of waiting for them to make things better and to show the community what’s actually going on in the district,” Ms. Claus said.
In an email, the district said it was not facing a teacher shortage, although staffing changes have taken place throughout the year.
Over the course of the school year, two teachers have resigned, said Allegheny Valley spokeswoman Jan Zastawniak. One position will be filled in December.
The second position remains vacant, although it will be covered by a district teacher “who has the proper certification,” Ms. Zastawniak said. That vacancy is in family and consumer sciences, which brought to a head student frustrations over open positions.
According to Ms. Zastawniak, the position has been advertised and a substitute will cover the class until a full-time teacher is hired.
“We don’t believe that constitutes a teacher shortage,” Ms. Zastawniak said. “However, administrators are working very diligently to find qualified individuals to fill any vacancy as soon as possible.”
She noted the district is also advertising for substitutes in custodial, food service and secretarial support positions.
“I believe that currently, there are employee shortages in many segments of society; education is no different,” Ms. Zastawniak said.
Community support
As a retired Pittsburgh Public Schools teacher, Jackie Colwes understands issues facing the education system.
On Wednesday, the Springdale resident who student taught and substituted at Springdale High School decided to show her support for students.
“We’re such a small district, I understand that, it’s been getting smaller and smaller,” Ms. Colwes said. “There has to be a solution. Other school districts are trying to make ends meet and meet the needs of all their students. I just don’t know why Springdale can’t.”
While few community members attended the walkout, many showed their support by signing an online petition – created by Ms. Claus – demanding change in the district. By Wednesday afternoon, the petition contained more than 940 signatures.
“We’re just asking for an education,” Ms. Claus said. “We’re asking for more teachers. We’re just asking to be treated like students.”
Other students agreed, noting that it’s unfair that the district does not have teachers to fill vacancies in elective classes.
“As students we have the right to learn more than just what the average student learns,” said junior Bella Savko. “Throughout the year we’re losing more and more teachers and we’re just losing more and more education. I definitely think COVID had something to do with that, of course, but we just need to get back on it and do what we know how to do.”
Ms. Claus, who took her concerns to the school board Nov. 15, said she hopes the walkout brings the issue to the community’s attention while pushing for administrators and school directors to make changes soon. Ms. Shock agreed.
“I hope that we can show the school board and everyone that’s higher up and just our community altogether … that we’re asking for them to support us and try to make a change,” she said.